Roll over beethoven dig these rhythm 'n' blues rock on!!!
World's Greatest Music: Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, voted # 1
by compound complex 24 Replies latest jw friends
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Band on the Run
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is my current favorite. I was not exposed to classical music growing up at all. We had polka records. My first loves were the Beatles, Dylan, and the WHO. When I graduated law school, I started attending classical concerts at Lincoln Center. A friend and I had a subscription to the New York City Opera. Part of the subscription involved membership in the youth guild. I was immersed with classical music lovers. My church had free concerts.
I so much wanted to know the classical standards and a bit of avant-garde. One problem I face is the cost of classical albums. They cost far more than rock music. The other problem is having no idea of the merit of the performance group. NYC has a strong classical base. Philadelphia had one station- a college one. I know these classically exposed people hear more than I do. I became ill and would still attend opera performances. It was better than being home alone. The group was cozy. They said that my aesthetic sense was amazing. When I left early to go home, it was a bad performance technically. I stayed for the better performances.
Do you have suggestions for how others can crack the classical code? When I talk to people at parties, the classical groupies all seem to have been born to parents who exposed them at an early age. I shall always be loyal to the Beatles. McCartney is writing classical pieces. I don't think it is an accident that I ventured into classical, jazz, and show tunes once I had money. Knowing these pieces is essential to a proper education. They publish lists but how do I know if I trust the compiler of the list.
I must say that actually going to performances is far better than listening to the radio. Beatles fans are nothing compared to opera fans.
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compound complex
Thank you, Everyone, for your posts. The thread title is based on the contest's name.
I was raised on vinyl recordings in the 1950s and '60s, our family having only a used, thrift store portable phonogragh. It played 45 rpm records -- some of which I still have -- and 33 rpm long playing vinyl. I treasure those moments when a new world of luxuriant sound opened up before me.
HiFi was great -- once we upgraded!
CC
Edited to add: The webpage states these are the top 100 classical pieces chosen by you, though the title of the thread was also used earlier during announcements, if I recall correctly.
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Dis-Member
Thank you for clarifying the thread Compound.. forgive me if I misunderstood.
I was weand on clssical music (Bach) and Jazz with the likes of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Lester Young, MacOY Tyner.. some of whom were friends of my father. My tastes are extremely eclectic.
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jwfacts
Dis-member - I have a music collection of over 170,000 albums and have been collecting for over 30 years.
That is remarkable. How do you get time listen to each album, let alone remember them. There was a collector in Hobart congregation, though he specialised in soundtracks. He had two room filled wall to wall with vinyl records. I am not sure what will happen to them, as he must in his 90s and in a home now.
This topic fooled me, as it is just limited to Classical music, and it would be impossible to pick a list spanning all genre's. How is "greatest music" judged. Most intricate, highest IQ of listeners, highest IQ of composer, most popular, most sold, most listened to, oldest still being listened to?
You also make a good point about Eminem. Eminem's Love the way you Lie has had 650 million views on youtube alone, not counting radio plays and albums sold. In his song Rap God, he raps 97 words in 15 seconds, or 6.5 words per second. Genius. In hundreds of years, I think there will still be some of the classics from the 20th century being played. I was at a very cool bar in Sydney last week filled with mostly alternate 20 year olds, and they were dancing to rock songs that spanned the 50's to the 90's. I was impressed that several generations on, people are still listening to the best rock of those eras.
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Dis-Member
Jwfacts..
In fact I have been listening to music very seriously since I was about 2 years old.. that was the first time I remember hearing Bach.. immediately followed by John Coltrane. Since that day my taste and need to hear both classical music and Jazz is equally split down the middle.
One of my grand mothers was a concert pianist who I was told accompanied Maria Callas.. and on the other side of the family were 5 great aunt's all in the same violin quintet. I seem to have inherited very strong musical genes and an extremely strong musical memory.I started collecting myself at about 14 years of age and never stopped. All kinds of music was playing 24 hours a day in my home with each family member having their own genre.. and I myself have never stopped listening and playing. I ended up with my own modern Jazz quartet for about 9 years and have always taught music too. This spring I will form a new jazz quartet and be out playing every night.
I have converted all my music to digital format now.. mostly FLAC or OGG as these formats are a dozen times the quality of mp3's and I have them all on 3 terabyte drives so none of it takes up any space and cataloguing and organising it all using the computer is very easy.
I'm never without an mp3 player either and when home Youtube or my studio set up is constantly churning out something.Music is like air for me. It's a language I instantly understood the first time I ever heard and related to very early.. even before I could speak.
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flamegrilled
My favorite is Bach's St. Matthew's Passion. It's very moving emotionally. Oubliette
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trebor
Vivaldi's "Four Seasons", if Baroque is being considered as possibilities for the list. I cannot specify which of the four concertos. However, if going by popularity or at least familiarity by majority, I believe 'Spring' would be the winner.
More contemporary and lyrical (female): Several songs by Mariah Carey circa 1990-1995. Whitney comes close, but Mariah always seems to edge her out, IMHO. Houston's rendition of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" is phenomenal though.
More contemporary and lyrical (male): Elvis Presley. I'm not talking the late 50's/early 60's stuff. Mid-Late 60's/70's is the true gold for me. Hard to pick just one: "Heart of Rome", "Tomorrow Never Comes", "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (Yes, beats our Simon's performance), "If I Can Dream", "Hurt", "Kentucky Rain", "Without Love (There Is Nothing)", "Just Pretend", "Rags To Riches", "We Can Make The Morning", "What Now My Love"...The list goes on-and-on. Oh, and a few weeks before he died, a live version of Paul Anka's "My Way" which is better than Sinatra.
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Band on the Run
How does a JW listen to classical music from an early age? My mom once had some 78 classical albums. Destroyed by my father. He destroyed all her favorite things. The KH crowd would laugh at classical music. I will never forget when the green music book was retired. The brother never heard of Beethoven or Bach and pronounced them phonetically in English. I felt the new magenta covers were the tackiest things ever. Heck, we had no piano player for Kingdom songs.
Music was always a problem. Long before the Beatles, (from my child perspective), I knew about Frankie Vali and other Jersey legends, such as Sinatra. Elvis Presley could be overheard coming out of any teenage girl's window. All this music was declared evil. Most classical music was written for ecclasiastical purposes. It would be tripled damned.
My parents knew nothing about jazz. I later learned on a date with a local Jersey classmate that NJ had tons of small jazz clubs.
I am always asking about contemporary groups similar to the Beatles or the WHO. It blows my mind that a very big anniversary of Ed Sullivan's show is coming in the next week or so. This music will always be important to my very soul. I almost died for my devotion to the Beatles and John Lennon, in particular. I vowed I would never be in a time warp, listening to an oldies station. I try to listen to college radio but I have problems picking up the stations.
I can't understand how parents who exposed their children to classical or jazz music could be Witnesses. It is almost a negation in my mind. Many times, though, members here talk of major rock concerts attended by groups of Witnesses. I would have ratted out. Heck, we met in a ghetto. R & B was not allowed. R&B was imposed on me in high school. We politely asked for five minutes of Beatles music. The priincipal was not terrified of us. No Beatles. It has taken all these years but now I love R & B. I laugh so hard when I play it.